Major improvements to the paths, especially across the Meadow and to the steps. We get a lot of appreciation from walkers and it’s encouraging how many people, young and old, are now able to experience the place.

The Board Walk – so many people go and sit on the benches and relax, and very few are anti-social. It has been a big success.

The Community Orchard – continues to develop, botanically. I cannot see any reason to intervene in natural processes other than to tame the vegetation now and then. Each year different plants dominate and this year it is False Melilot. The newly established fruit trees are doing well and still look as though they are too far apart, which is good because we can be sure that they have not been planted too close together.

Below the Travis Perkins bridge: is it too soon to conclude that the general up-grading of the area is reducing the attractiveness of the area below the bridge for those of an anti-social nature?

PBNR projects planned 2015/2016

Up-grade the path from the far steps down from the Meadow, to the ponds. The plan is to get gravel delivered (probably 10+ tons at maybe £60/ton) and to hire a tracked barrow to move it. There are also some bits between the 2 bridges that would benefit from some gravel and we may be able to do this at the same time. We may start it on the September work party day. Also finish improvements to the steps.

Raise the water level in the pond by a couple of inches by altering the level of the spillway. We had thought to do this during the summer when water levels were low, but have realised that if we raise the level now, it might take days for water to start coming over the spillway again – not good for the downstream pondlife. So it is probably best to wait until there is a bit more water, but not so much that it would prevent us doing the job.

Swift and House Martin nest boxes – swifts and martins are getting scarce partly because of shortage of nesting sites. The west side of Pilley Bridge would be a suitable place for some nest boxes – just below a ledge that is more or less at the level of the carriageway. It would need scaffolding, or a very long ladder and nerves of steel, to fix them. This would be moderately high profile because everyone would be able to see them, and this time it would be principally for wildlife. Their educational value would also be high.

Enlarge the Community Orchard: a little scrub clearance was done on the bank below the CO last winter but not as much as planned. It would be good to get one or two more trees planted to make it more of an orchard, and cut the bank more so that it becomes accessible, more grassy and open. Winter work.

Up-grade the path across the Community Orchard. It’s not straightforward because of the need to incorporate routes for surface water. We haven’t quite worked out how to do it yet but reduction of the gradient at the entrance will use-up those untidy concrete posts. Watch this space.

New glade: on the south side of the main drag up eastwards from the Community Orchard towards Pilley Bridge there is a spot on the right where a new glade to let in more sunlight could be created easily by removing the Ash saplings and a couple of Hawthorns. Winter work.

Since the last AGM a year ago a number of events, activities and projects have happened, as well as our regular activities.

Each quarter a newsletter has been produced and sent out to our 204 members, mostly by e-newsletter but a number are still printed and taken round to each of our non-computer-owning elderly members. Photos and information are regularly put on Facebook and our Facebook members now total 175. Our website is regularly updated and a continual calendar of events is available for all to see.

Each school holiday our junior members have Nature Explorers activity group run by Marta and Davinia. This is a very popular event with sometimes 20 or more children turning up with their parents.

The first Saturday of each month sees the gathering of volunteers to do practical work in the reserve. This is improving the reserve constantly for wildlife and people alike.

Both the Woodcraft Folk and the Beaver Scouts use the reserve for their activities on a regular basis. This January the Woodcraft Folk joined forces with our members for an evening of wassailing in the community orchard.

In the Easter holidays we invited Simon Turk from Treecreepers Forest School to run a 90 minute fire making workshop for 6 – 11 year olds. This was very successful and something we may well instigate again.

Last Autumn Morgan started up an activity called Wildish Playtimes to encourage parents to bring their pre-school children to the reserve for unstructured play and a lot of getting wet and muddy. This ran until the mud on the paths got too difficult for toddlers to manoeuvre. Because of lack of helpers we were unable to start this up again in the Spring but it was felt that lots of young families were visiting the reserve by this time so its need was not so great.

In June, Naunton Park School had their Art Week with the theme of Nature. Each day classes came down to the reserve to paint, draw take photographs and be inspired by what they saw around them. Several enthusiastic youngsters were seen later showing their parents what they had done.

Last July saw our first ‘Community Summer Picnic’ with live music from David Lloyd, the Music Man’, children’s games and plenty of cake and tea. The atmosphere was one of laid back good will. On Apple Day there was another extremely well attended event in the Community Orchard. As in 2013, about 150 people came. The cakes were even more delicious this time and people were able to stock up on lots of lovely jams and pickles. Bunting, music and children’s games made this a really great community event.

The long-planned addition of boardwalks to the wetlands area came to fruition this year after some super fundraising. The money from Community Pride and GCC Active Together gave us all the money we needed to get contractors in and complete the job in January this year. The work was supervised by Friends Group members and we were pleased with the way they did the job and the response from people using the reserve has been universally positive.

The pond is now being gradually planted up using plants transplanted from other parts of the wetlands so as to improve the habitat for pond life. The work parties have built new paths that make it possible to cross the Meadow easily in all weathers and the steps are being up-graded to make it easier to get up and down. It is anticipated that the access paths will soon be improved and the funds are available for this.

During the winter we had two very interesting and well attended talks and community curry evenings at Mel’s Café; hopefully we can find more speakers to give similarly high standard talks this coming winter.

Our membership continues to increase, indicating a real keenness by the local community for their local nature reserve. Within the reserve the management of the trees and the added light due to thinning has increased the wildlife diversity and is generally popular with walkers. A wider range of plants are flowering, more butterflies, birds and wild flowers are being seen and monitoring of these changes is being undertaken by a few keen individuals. There is a project in the pipeline joining with Naunton Park and the Asquith Road Allotments to have a professional survey and comparative study done of pollinators on all three sites. The habitat piles we have built out of the cut wood are being slowly colonised with an appearance by hedgehogs this summer. The badgers are building new sets close to the ponds, obviously not at all put off by our new boardwalks and although muntjac tracks are often seen by the water they seem to keep themselves mainly hidden in the Wild Wood area.

Plans for the coming year include swift and house martin nest boxes, raising the level of the big pond, enlarging the community orchard, continuing up-grading paths and creating a bat roost.

It has been a real pleasure to have been Group Co-ordinator for the last three years and a great sense of achievement that we have done so much to make this beautiful place better in so many ways, for people and wildlife. As most of you know I am now stepping down from this role in order to spend more time caring for my mother but I will happily continue with newsletters, the social media, posters and work parties so you haven’t seen the back of me yet. I am sure that Friends of Pilley Bridge Nature Reserve will continue going from strength to strength under the leadership of Sharon Sheather, our newly elected Group Co-ordinator – info@pilleybridge.org.uk

During the week of 1st February 2015, R. J. Clarke, the local landscape contractors selected by The Friends of Pilley Bridge Nature Reserve (PBNR), installed the board walks and footpath bridges at the Nature Reserve. The works were undertaken by a 3-man team using machinery including an excavator and a dumper. The on-site works were completed in a full week (Monday 8am to Friday 5pm), and there had been considerable preparation and collation of the materials beforehand. The works were supervised on-site by a member of the Friends-of group who had specialist knowledge of landscaping, and of the repair of farm dams in Zambia. Approximately 20 hours of supervision was provided throughout the week because frequent decisions were required as the job progressed.

The Friends-of group had had the good fortune to be offered a job lot of pre-used, grey, plastic, boardwalk sections which had formerly been used at Coombe Hill Nature Reserve, by The Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust. In the floods two years ago the walkway which they had formed had been washed-away and the damage sustained to it was such that the sections of which it was comprised were no longer suitable for use other than on a smaller scale project such as this.

As planned and drawn-up by MHP Design, Chartered Landscape Architects of Cheltenham1 the works comprised the removal of parts of the existing ad hoc dam (principally the water-side edge which has been subjected to wear and which had had to be reinforced from time-to-time) and its replacement by a continuous oak board. This was then sealed into the existing structure with clay which was excavated from a location close to Pilley Bridge and brought-in by dumper.

The 1.2m-wide boardwalk was installed across the full width of the dam, and on the south side (the right looking upstream) an additional 5m section was installed along the edge of the pond. This additional section (“the return”) now gives access to a greater area of the water, and also to the upper parts of the pond which had been largely inaccessible to all but more-able scramblers until then.

It was decided to install the return in such a way that its line reflected the slight, convex curve of that side of the pond. The contractors successfully installed the rectangular plastic sections with a slight angle in the centre of the run, which was challenging but has proved to be visually most effective.

A tractor-mounted auger was used to make holes for the wooden posts of English Oak (15cm x 15cm) which form the foundation of the boardwalk. A tractor and auger was required because the buried ballast of the former railway had prevented a previous attempt by the Friends-of group to install posts to strengthen the dam using hand tools. On the downward side it was possible to secure the posts into the ground with concrete, while the posts within the pond (the boardwalk extends over the edge of the dam by approx 20cm) were placed into augured holes and rammed downwards until they were firm. In this way it was not necessary to drain the pond, or to lay concrete within it, both of which would have been harmful to the wildlife.

An oak rail was screwed to the outer edges of the lines of oak posts and the boardwalk sections were fitted over these and secured to them. The resulting structure is without movement and constructed of the most durable materials. In strengthening the dam, provision has been made in due course to raise the level of the water, which is currently about 15cm below the level of the boardwalk, by about 7.5cm. This simple procedure will be undertaken during the summer when the flow of water is reduced and it can be stopped for sufficient time for fast-curing cement to harden. This will increase the area of water and make it more accessible, more especially for children. Two, simple oak benches have been ordered from a local craftsman and will be installed by the Friends-of group in due course.

Three small bridges were constructed, two crossing the stream (which splits into two creating a small island) onto the new island and off again just below the dam, and a third where the path crosses water issuing from a spring. The bridges are of the same construction type and are sufficiently wide to take a pushchair/buggy.

Feedback from people who have visited PBNR since the works were completed and who have been met on-site, and those many people who have commented on the PBNR facebook page, has been unanimously positive and most encouraging; it has been gratifying for Friends-of group members to see the numbers of families with young children who are using the Nature Reserve now that access has improved. One child is reported to have said to her parents: “It’s so nice, why do we not come here more often?”

These various access arrangements provide a destination and access to nature for people of all ages. It is frequently remarked upon by local people who have lived in the area often for many years and have just “found” the place2 that PBNR is a strangely peaceful and most agreeable spot to find within the town. Where before the dam was an unsatisfactory, ad hoc collection of earth and boards3 there now is the chance for children to sit or lie safely and in comfort on the boardwalk and pond-dip and watch the pondlife, with benches for adults to rest while they do. It has become a desirable destination which will attract people of all ages for quiet recreation.

The path above (east of) Pilley Bridge, across the meadow, has been laid with bricks to provide a mud-free path 1m wide across a stretch of ground which had previously been passable in winter only by determined walkers in Wellington boots. The bricks were laid as a temporary measure in early winter to provide access through the winter using mostly low grade bricks (stocks) which are liable to corrosion by frosts. Plans are being made to up-grade the path during 2015 and purchase of engineering bricks to substitute for the stocks will soon be made. This will include adding drainage and a bed of sharp sand; it is anticipated that the outcome will be an all-weather path which will have an indefinite lifespan.

The stream now flows out of the pond down a newly-constructed spillway which has not been covered by the boardwalk; it remains a place for children to experiment with hydraulics and further to experience wild things. The boardwalk return (on the south side of the pond) provides access to both the side of the pond and to the marshland upstream which previously had been inaccessible. The marshland is a significant habitat in itself and it is hoped to be able to install an information board regarding the wildlife values of it and the ponds.

Works have been started, with the agreement of Cheltenham Borough Council rangers, to increase light levels to the pond and surrounding area by coppicing of the undergrowth, principally Hazel and Goat Willow. This should increase wildlife within and around the pond and provide further opportunities for recreation and study. While the Saturday work party was doing the work4 an early butterfly visited a newly-created patch of sunlight over the pond that had not been there the previous day.

Works not yet completed but which are within the funding package, apart from up-grading of the path across the meadow, are improvements to the section of path from the meadow to the ponds. This section remains unimproved because the contractors needed to drive their vehicles over it repeatedly and it would have been damaged in the process. The plan is to use the stock bricks which will become available when engineering bricks are substituted for them, to create a good all-weather path which will then be topped with gravel.

Footnotes:
1 Free of charge.
2 It is remarkable how many people are met by members of the Friends-of group who say this.
3 Create a few years ago, most commendably, by the Cheltenham Borough Council rangers in haste to re-locate stranded amphibians.
4 The Friends-of group has a once-monthly work party in a Saturday morning which is well supported by up to 15 people.

Last year we were lucky enough to get hold of a lot of second hand board walk sections, and thanks to a small grant we have now had some of this installed around the main Pond towards the South-Eastern end of the reserve. It is hoped that this will provide easier access to observe the abundant activity that ponds support. Educational pond-dipping should also be much easier, as the boardwalk gives a clean, stable edge to work from.

Looking North-West from the ponds, back towards Pilley Bridge:

Looking South-East, into the as-yet untamed areas beyond the ponds:

The observant may notice that considerable pruning happened during the work party just one day after these pictures were taken!

The trees are hopefully fully awake for spring after an enthusiastic session of singing and pot-banging in the Orchard. Led by the Woodcraft Folk around 50 people got together to make some noise and enjoy hot soup as a prelude to spring arriving.

Back in May, Harry Dennish, and undergraduate intern with the council, started a detailed survey of the plant life in and around the Pilley Bridge Community Orchard (PBCO). He has now produced his PBCO Management plan 2014 and an amazing collection of images (see the ‘Galleries’) tab on any page. This report not only documents the extensive variety of species present, but will act as a baseline to assess future development in and around the Orchard.

An up to date draft of the PBNR management plan 2 is now available. By its very nature it will be constantly up-dated to take account of advice from specific wildlife groups and the monitoring of developments within the reserve.

WILDLIFE SURVEYS

Spiders: David Haigh, County Spider Recorder, started carrying out a 12 month survey of spiders in the reserve in the autumn of 2012.

Birds: David Cramp, Gloucestershire RSPB, started doing a twice yearly survey of birds in the reserve in December 2012 with the aim of monitoring the improvement in numbers of bird species with the development of the reserve habitat. Members of the Friends group also monitor bird species informally and these observations are recorded by the group.

Insects: Gloucestershire Invertebrate Group (GIG) did an evening survey in specific areas of the reserve on June 12th.

Wild flowers: Members of the Friends group recorded all flowers on a weekly basis (June – October this year and July – Sept. last year). They also took photos and these are being stored by the group. The same will be done next year.

Bats: Haydn Brookes, Gloucestershire Bat Group has held 2 bat walks in the reserve this year (both with over 30 local residents attending). Next Spring we plan to do an in depth bat survey with the help of Dr Elizabeth Pimley of Gloucestershire Bat Group.

Butterflies: Gloucestershire Butterfly Conservation Group has done informal observations of butterflies with the Friends group. A survey has been talked about but not organised yet. Meanwhile they are advising on habitat improvement for butterflies.

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

Communication: Apart from an up-dated page on CBC website about Pilley Bridge Nature Reserve, Friends of PBNR have this
website, we also run a Facebook page and have a Twitter account. A quarterly e-newsletter is produced for the 150+ members of the Friends group plus local politicians, businesses and schools who have joined up to receive it. A hard copy is delivered to 10 elderly people who have no internet access.

Friends of Pilley Bridge Nature Reserve was first mooted in June 2012 with a constitution being adopted in July 2012. From that a Community Orchard sub –committee was formed in January 2013 and a junior group, Nature Explorers, started in October 2012.

Nature Explorers meet during school holidays and have so far done activities such as making places for animals and insects to hibernate, making bird feeders, finding tracks, pond dipping and den building.

A Conservation Work Party is held in the reserve the first Saturday of every month and these are always well attended.

Illustrated talks and discussions are held locally every 6 – 8 weeks during winter and during the past 10 months we have had speakers on birds, bees, bats and ‘gardening for wildlife’. There are talks planned for winter 2013/14 on Gloucestershire birds, butterflies and wildlife photography. These talks are preceded by a ‘community curry’ which is always very well attended and gives members a chance to socialise. Most talks have had over 40 people attending.

The Friends group has recently made a display that can be used at local fetes and shows. We have literature about the reserve, games for children, plus information about how people can help create a ‘wildlife garden’ for themselves.

There is a ‘library’ of books on wildlife, including a number of identification guides, available for use by members of Friends of PBNR, at 38 Mead Road, adjoining the reserve.

PILLEY BRIDGE COMMUNITY ORCHARD

In February we were successful in getting match funding from CBC’s Community Pride Fund. This has allowed us to carry out our plan to create a Community Orchard at the western end of the reserve. On 20th October 2013 we celebrated Apple Day with the official opening of the orchard with 150 people attending. The orchard will continue to grow and develop and there is now an orchard sub-committee to help this happen.

REGULAR CURRENT USERS

Local residents
Dog walkers
Leckhampton Woodcraft Folk, both the younger and older groups.
Leckhampton Beaver Scouts
‘Wildish Days Out’ – a pre-school group
Teenagers sitting in groups after school
Special interest groups, eg GIG
Wildlife photographers

ACCESS and SIGNAGE

Funding was obtained in February to up-grade the footpaths leading to the reserve from Mead Road, Leckhampton Road and Old Bath Road. This, along with providing footpath signs saying ‘access to Pilley Bridge Nature Reserve’ are being done by Gloucestershire County Council, Public Rights of Way.

The slope into the reserve at the western end was made much gentler using a digger contractor plus volunteers. CBC provided a new, oak PILLEY BRIDGE sign for the western end of the reserve which the Friends group erected at the top of the slope in April and CBC has provided a hand rail down one side of the slope.

An interpretation board has been designed by local designer and member of the Friends group, Nibbs Smith. One has been erected at the Western end of the reserve in the Community Orchard and the other will go up in the Meadow at the December work party. A local craftsman has made an archway incorporating the name ‘PILLEY BRIDGE COMMUNITY ORCHARD’ which has been put up in the entrance to the orchard.

EDUCATION

An education pack for use by local schools and other interested groups is being put together by CBC and should be available for use by schools and other groups shortly.

A ‘woodland classroom’ has been created within the reserve to enable teachers to bring groups of children to have outdoor lessons. Naunton Park School plan to use the reserve for lessons starting in 2014.

FACILITIES

Funds were raised by the Friends group to have an oak bench made by a local bodger and this was put half way down the ‘Long Walk’ in the reserve. The Friends group now have two more benches in the Community Orchard.

FUTURE

We are waiting to get confirmation that Pilley Bridge has been successful in its application to get Local Nature Reserve status awarded by Natural England. This will then afford the Reserve a measure of protection for the future which can only be a good thing!

A few weeks ago the Friends Group needed to collect more apples than they could easily find themselves to have enough to make into juice for the opening of the Mead Road Community orchard. An SOS email caused us to have many generous offers of apples which “would otherwise go to waste”, and we easily accumulated the 300 kilos needed for a juicing run at Bensons. Without a large quantity, the juice gets lost in the machinery and the small amount you get out of it may be more of the last person’s than your own!

But back to apples going to waste – orchards should be heaving with apples in autumn, apples with all sorts of different colours, sizes, shapes and tastes. Some varieties ripen early and are sweet in late August and September. Discovery is one of these which is usually the first English apple available in the shops in August, from where they are usually hard and (for me) much too sharp. Left a bit later and/or taken from your own garden they can be wonderfully scented, softer and much sweeter. That is a characteristic of early apples, soft, even woolly, and you can keep them only a very few weeks.

In October, apples that are not yet ready to pick and are still sour are often rejected as being cookers or simply “uneatable”, and left to “go to waste”. Worse still the tree is cut down because it is “useless”. We do not cut down Oak, Beech or Hawthorn trees because their seeds are not good to eat…but let that pass.

Bramley’s Seedling is a justifiably common cooking apple, originally a chance seedling with an interesting history. It was grown from a pip by a young girl called Mary Ann Brailsford girl in her garden in Southwell, Nottinghamshire in 1809. The property was then sold to a local butcher, Matthew Bramley in 1846. In 1856, a local nurseryman, Henry Merryweather, asked if he could take cuttings from the tree and start to sell the trees because they produced excellent fruit. Mr Bramley agreed, but he insisted that the apple trees should bear his name. So maybe the variety should really be called Brailsford, or better still Merryweather (an especially good name for a fruit tree), rather than Bramley.

Whatever the name, put the apples in a cool, mouse-free place (not always easy to find) in late October, and they will keep until the spring and you can have baked apples stuffed with sultanas and almonds all the while.

One of our favourites is Blenheim Orange, known as The Christmas Apple. Blenheims are big, vigorous trees which crop prolifically. The apples are no good at all in October, and by November most people have lost interest and have returned to the supermarkets to buy the hard, green Granny Smiths which television props departments seem to love, and which have probably come from abroad.

Leave Blenheims until late December, however, and you notice one day that they have ripened and are good both for eating straight from the shelf, or cooked in a pie. If the conditions where they are kept are cool enough, they will keep until the spring. Keeping apples through the winter is a lost skill which is well worth reviving.

The range of varieties of fruit trees is immense and only a few are grown commercially. The late-lamented Scotts Nurseries of Merriott produced a catalogue which was a great source of knowledge on fruit varieties; the catalogue (Part 1 is fruit) is sometimes available to buy on Amazon.

Still, there should be just too many apples to be able to eat them all or to store in that elusive cool, mouse-free place. A surplus makes it possible to throw some out into the garden for the birds daily in cold weather, but last year there were so few apples on the trees that we had to buy them in to feed to the birds. Thrushes especially are dependent upon soft food, and blackbirds also seem to prefer an apple to anything else in late winter.

In large gardens and orchards where there remains an abundance of fruit under the trees at Christmas and beyond, Fieldfares and Redwings may gather and join the local birds to feast on the “wasted” apples. To tempt these Arctic thrushes into the garden is a treat for both parties to that deal, and it makes no sense to think that the fruit lying under the trees is made anything other than highly valuable thereby, or that it has been put to very good use.

An up to date draft of the management plan for Pilley Bridge Nature Reserve is available on request. By its very nature it will be constantly up-dated to take account of advice from specific wildlife groups and the monitoring of developments within the reserve.

WILDLIFE SURVEYS

Spiders: David Haigh, County Spider Recorder, started carrying out a 12 month survey of spiders in the reserve in October 2012.

Birds: David Cramp, Gloucestershire RSPB, started doing a twice yearly survey of birds in the reserve in December 2012 with the aim of monitoring the improvement in numbers of bird species with the development of the reserve habitat. Members of the Friends group also monitor bird species informally and these observations are recorded by the group.

Insects: Gloucestershire Insect Group (GIG) is doing an evening survey (4 hours) in specific areas of the reserve on June 12th.

Wild flowers: Members of the Friends group record all flowers on a weekly basis (June – October this year and July – Sept. last year). They also take photos and these are being stored by the group.

Bats: Haydn Brookes, Gloucestershire Bat Group has held 2 bat walks in the reserve this year (both with over 30 local residents attending). He will be carrying out an extended survey in July aided by members of the Friends group.

Butterflies: Gloucestershire Butterfly Conservation Group have had an informal for butterflies with the Friends group. A survey has been talked about but not organised yet. Meanwhile they are advising on habitat improvement for butterflies.

Bees: Jessie Jowers of the Bee Guardian Foundation and Jo Worthy-Jones of GWT led a bee walk in the reserve during September 2012 (with over 60 local residents attending).

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

Communication: Apart from an up-dated page on CBC website about Pilley Bridge Nature Reserve, Friends of PBNR have a website www.pilleybridge.org.uk they also run a Facebook site and have Twitter account. A quarterly e-newsletter is produced for the 150+ members of the Friends group plus local politicians, businesses and schools who have joined up to receive it. A hard copy is delivered to 10 elderly people who have no internet access.

‘Friends of’ group: Friends of Pilley Bridge was first mooted in June 2012 with a constitution being adopted in July 2012. From that a Community Orchard sub –committee was formed in January 2013 and a junior group, Nature Explorers, started in October 2012.

Nature Explorers meet during school holidays and have so far done activities such as making places for animals and insects to hibernate, making bird feeders, finding tracks, pond dipping and den building.

A Conservation Work Party is held in the reserve the first Saturday of every month and these are always well attended.

Illustrated talks and discussions are held locally every 2 months from September to May and during the past 10 months we have had speakers on birds, bees, bats and ‘gardening for wildlife’. There are talks booked for the autumn on butterflies and wildlife photography. These talks are preceded by a ‘community curry’ which is always very well attended and gives members a chance to socialise. Most talks have had over 50 people attending.

A guided walk is held weekly throughout the year through the reserve to enable people who are less able physically or who just prefer to be in company when out walking to enjoy the wildlife.

The Friends group has recently made a display that can be used at local fetes and shows. We have literature about the reserve, games for children, plus information about how people can help create a ‘wildlife garden’ for themselves.

There is a ‘library’ of books on wildlife, including a number of identification guides, available for use by members of Friends of PBNR, at38 Mead Road, adjoining the reserve.

ACCESS and SIGNAGE Funding was obtained in February to up-grade the footpaths leading to the reserve from Mead Road, Leckhampton Road and Old Bath Road. This, along with providing footpath signs saying ‘access to Pilley Bridge Nature Reserve’, was supposed to be completed by GCC by May 2013. This is yet to be started.

The slope into the reserve at the western end was made much gentler using a digger contractor plus volunteers. CBC provided a new, oak PILLEY BRIDGE sign for the western end of the reserve which the Friends group erected at the top of the slope in April. A contractor has been asked to provide a handrail down one side of the slope. This is expected to be carried out shortly.

An interpretation board has been designed by local designer and member of the Friends group, Nibbs Smith. Once we confirm what logos will be included the board will be manufactured and erected at the Western end of the reserve in the Community Orchard. A blacksmith is at present making the simple archway incorporating the name ‘PILLEY BRIDGE COMMUNITY ORCHARD’ to go in the entrance to the orchard.

EDUCATION An education pack for use by local schools and other interested groups is being put together by CBC and should be available for use by September.

A ‘woodland classroom’ has recently been created within the reserve to enable teachers to bring groups of children to have outdoor lessons. We have started taking bookings from local schools. If anyone has involvement in a local school (especially NauntonPark or Leckhampton) and would like to encourage them to use the Reserve please let us know and we can arrange a meeting.

FACILITIES Funds were raised by the Friends group to have an oak bench made by a local bodger and this was put half way down the ‘Long Walk’ in the reserve. The Friends group now have two more benches to put in the Community Orchard.

FUTURE We are waiting to hear if Pilley Bridge has been successful in its application to get Local Nature Reserve status awarded by Natural England. The assessment took place a week ago. We have reason to be very positive about the likely outcome. This will then afford the Reserve a measure of protection for the future which can only be a good thing!